Equality Maps
LGBTQ Equality Maps Updates: April 2026
In this rapidly changing landscape, MAP’s LGBTQ Equality Maps provide a detailed snapshot of the current state of LGBTQ laws and policies in the United States. See below for a listing of state and local level policy changes, plus MAP’s bill tracking updates, as of April 2, 2026.
▸▸ State Policy Updates
Changes in MAP’s Policy Score categorizations
See our Overall, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity Policy Score maps here, which summarize states’ scores across the 50+ laws and policies MAP tracks.
- February 18: When Kansas overrode the governor’s veto of SB244, enacting both a wide-sweeping bathroom ban and the unprecedented rescinding of transgender people’s driver’s licenses, the state fell from “Low” to “Negative” in our Overall Policy Score.
Wisconsin Governor vetoes slate of anti-trans bills
- March 31: On International Transgender Day of Visibility, Governor Tony Evers vetoed five anti-trans bills, including prohibitions that would ban transgender youth from participating on sports teams that align with their gender identity, barring them from using their chosen name and pronouns in school, and from accessing best-practice medical care.
Bans on gender marker changes on driver’s licenses
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- February 12: Indiana’s Bureau of Motor Vehicles finalized a new administrative rule banning gender marker changes on driver’s licenses, reversing its longstanding policy allowing such changes since at least 2015.
- February 18: Through SB244, Kansas became the fifth state with a total ban on gender marker changes on driver’s licenses, and further became the first state in the country to require, by law, the rescinding of transgender people’s driver’s licenses, if those licenses reflected their gender identity. The legislature overrode the governor’s veto to enact this law.
- March 3: Through HJR1032, Oklahoma became the sixth state with a total ban on driver’s license changes. This legislation repealed previous administrative rules permitting such changes.
Bans on gender marker changes on birth certificates
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- March 4: The South Dakota Supreme Court ruled that gender markers on birth certificates cannot be changed due to a person’s gender identity, effectively banning such changes moving forward.
Bans on transgender people’s use of bathrooms and facilities in government-owned spaces
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
Currently, 21 states and Puerto Rico have a law limiting transgender people’s access to government-owned restrooms.
- February 18: Through SB244, Kansas banned transgender people from using all multi-user government-owned bathrooms and facilities according to their gender identity. In limited circumstances, the law carries a misdemeanor crime penalty.
The new law also makes Kansas the fifth state with a bathroom ban that applies to at least some private settings. The legislature overrode the governor’s veto to enact this law. - February 25: Through HB165, Puerto Rico became the first U.S. territory to ban transgender people from using government-owned bathrooms according to their gender identity.
- March 31: Through H752, Idaho expanded its existing bathroom bans to now apply to any and all government-owned buildings.
The new law also contains two notable escalations in bathroom bans, explicitly applying to any place of public accommodation (e.g., private businesses) and carrying a potential felony criminal charge (for repeat violations). Importantly, this law does not go into effect until July 1, 2026, and legal challenges before then are likely.
Religious exemptions for child welfare services
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- February 26: Through HB1389, Indiana became the 16th state with an exemption allowing child welfare agencies to refuse to work with children or families — including LGBTQ people — if doing so would violate their religious beliefs.
Religious exemptions for medical providers
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- March 25: Through SB174, Utah became the 11th state with an exemption allowing medical providers to refuse to provide medical care if doing so would violate their (or their employer’s) religious beliefs.
Banning local nondiscrimination ordinances through preemption
See our Equality maps here.
- March 10: Last year, Iowa became the first state in history to repeal its gender identity protections in nondiscrimination law. Now, via SF579, the state has banned municipalities from protecting gender identity at the local level. This effectively nullifies the existing ordinances of over a dozen municipalities that were protecting over 25 percent of the state’s population against discrimination.
Bans on medical care for transgender youth
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here, including a chronology and details on effective dates, exceptions, lawsuits, and more.
- March 18: Utah enacted HB174, adding further restrictions to medical care for transgender youth in the state. Initially, the state’s 2023 ban on medical care for transgender youth had a “grandfather” clause allowing some transgender youth to continue receiving care if they had a formal gender dysphoria diagnosis prior to the ban going into effect.
The new 2026 law narrows that clause to now apply only to youth who are ages 16 and up and taking prescription hormone treatment (not including puberty-delaying medication); all other youth must now “wean off” or end their prescription medication (including puberty-delaying medication) by January 28, 2027.
Regulating gender to allow discrimination against transgender and nonbinary people
See our Equality Map here and our supporting citations and additional information here.
- March 20: South Dakota enacted HB1184, becoming the 19th state with a law or executive order re-defining “sex” throughout state law to allow discrimination against transgender people.
- March 24: Montana — despite not holding a legislative session this year — enacted another law re-defining “sex” throughout the state. While the bill was passed almost a year ago, politicians intentionally delayed sending it to the governor until recently to avoid the bill being included in an ongoing lawsuit against the state over a similar law enacted in 2023 and already blocked by multiple court rulings.
▸▸ LGBTQ Bill Tracking Updates
To continue highlighting trends across the country, included below are our current bill tracking counts for anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures. Note that these counts may differ from other organizations or public counts for a variety of reasons, and this work is greatly facilitated by the work of other organizations including the ACLU, The Trevor Project, and state LGBTQ groups.
As of March 31, 2026, MAP is tracking over 380 anti-LGBTQ bills* across at least 43 states.
* Note: this count does not include inactive carryover bills from 2025 sessions (i.e., bills which were introduced in 2025, carried over to the 2026 session, but have seen no activity in calendar year 2026).
▸▸ Local Policy Updates
Nondiscrimination ordinances
See our Equality Maps with local-level data here and state-by-state listings at each state’s profile.
- February 17: Holly Springs, North Carolina, adopted an ordinance prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ people in employment and public accommodations.
- March 19: Northampton County, Pennsylvania’s new ordinance prohibits discrimination against LGBTQ people in employment, housing, and public accommodations.
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